John, born in Manila but grew up in Vienna. He masters three languages: German, English and Tagalog (Filipino). After his apprenticeship as a consultant in one of the Big Four tax firms, John decided to challenge himself in a different field. He joined the United Nations Peacekeeping as a Soldier and went on Medical Missions for almost 3 years.

After his return, he then went straight to Marketing where he gained most of his skills in publishing and advertising. From Social Media Content Creator to Copywriter to Art Director, John is excited to put all his skills and experiences as Course Administrator for ISI.

Katja has been working for film, television and online media since 1993. More than a decade she spent in film production management and early film related online offers. She went on to head the press and PR department of Odeon Film Group in Munich where in 2010 she additionally took on the new remit of the sustainability officer, thus actually laying the foundations for green filmmaking in the German-speaking region.

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For several years now she has been consulting, teaching and writing for production companies, broadcasters, institutions, festivals and film schools like German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, funk, Goethe-Institute Los Angeles, Barents Ecology Film Festival, naturvision filmfestival, Producers’ Alliance or Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg to promote the concept of sustainability in media productions. Since January 2022 in this capacity she is employed at Tolle Idee! Network, Munich. Katja is a member of German Green Film & TV Consultants Association, Filmmakers 4 Future and journalists’ association.

Kai May’s expertise stems from 15 years of experience in the film industry as a managing director/CEO of film production companies. His area of practice, therefore, covers not only the legal but also the business aspects of film and tv productions and other media and entertainment products like video/computer games. He advices national and international clients on the full life cycle of audio-visual content (film, TV, OTT) from rights acquisition, through the stages of development, financing, structuring and (co-) production, until exploitation and distribution, including the evaluation of film libraries and the improvement of revenue streams.

He is also a lecturer at Film University Babelsberg.

After almost a decade in London working in Sales & Distribution, including at award-winning independent Altitude Films, Síle now facilitates and runs workshops for film teams to help them identify potential audiences for their films and the positioning of their projects in the marketplace. She's also a guest programmer for the Dublin Feminist Film Festival. Síle is an alumni of the National Film and Television School, Berlinale Talents, Torino Film Lab and LIM Less Is More. She is a member of the European Film Academy.

Actively involved in delivering training … For 7 years Julia ran the Marketing & Distribution Course for the Media Business School in Ronda, Spain and was Director of Content for the Creative Europe/ScreenSkills funded senior executive training programme Inside Pictures, as well as delivering training programmes for Screen Skills Ireland, Film Distributor’s Association, Focus in Scotland, and Creative England.

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Julia has been a driving force in creating ISI when the UK announced it would be leaving the EU and wanted to continue working with those in the international industry.

From a background in advertising and consumer PR, she joined PolyGram, the first European studio, where she was responsible for running the UK theatrical marketing and publicity departments. During her time, she had the honour of releasing such films as WHEN WE WERE KINGS, TRAINSPOTTING, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, FARGO, TWELVE MONKEYS and THE USUAL SUSPECTS, followed by stints as Deputy Managing Director of Redbus (now Lionsgate), and Head of Marketing at Film Four Distribution.

In 2003 she set her own UK distribution company, VERVE PICTURES with Colin Burch during which time she acquired and released Andrea Arnold’s RED ROAD, the Oscar nominated DOGTOOTH and Craig Gillespies LARS AND THE REAL GIRL. This was followed by two years as Head of International Acquisitions for a UK sales company.

Since 2013 she has worked freelance and been involved in various aspects of the film industry where she was a consultant to producers and, on Danny Boyle’s T2: Trainspotting, worked on the film from pre-production right through to its international release and worked with Pulse Films, Dogwoof, MBC Studio’s and the BFI.